The Virtual Private Network (VPN) service will soon become the sole campus-supported way for UC San Diego affiliates (currently enrolled students and faculty/staff) to access the wide breadth of Library resources—including e-journals, e-books, databases, and electronic reserve materials—from off-campus. The campus will soon discontinue the existing web proxy server, and as a result, users who are currently accessing the server through their internet browser will need to change their set-up and move to the VPN. Because the web proxy server is a passive system, many users may be unaware that they are connecting to Library resources via this method. By downloading the VPN software now, Library users can ensure undisrupted access. More information and instructions can be found at library.ucsd.edu/computing-and-technology/connect-from-off-campus. If you have trouble accessing a Library resource or have other questions, Ask A Librarian.

In case you didn’t notice, the Library recently launched a redesigned website with a more modern look and feel that is user-friendly across all devices.

We based a lot of our changes on the results of multiple User Experience studies as well as on feedback received via surveys taken by students, faculty, and staff. We appreciate those who took the time to participate in these studies, and we thank you for your efforts.

Here’s some of what’s new:

A new “Search” panel with the most frequently used resources right up front so users can quickly access journals, databases, research guides or other materials

Updated styling based on the UC San Diego campus templates and graphics. This means our new site displays better on screens of any size and easily conforms to accessibility standards

Tip: Many of our URLs have changed. If you have specific pages from our site bookmarked or linked in web pages of your own, you’ll want to use the website search function to get the new URLs. If you have any questions at all about where to find your favorite page(s), please contact us.

The Library will launch a redesigned website on June 20, 2017. The basic design of our current site was done about seven years ago, so we are due for a refresh.

We based a lot of our decision-making on the results of several rounds of User Experience studies as well as on feedback we’ve received in faculty/staff and student surveys. If you participated in a survey, an interview or an online user test, thank you!

Here’s some of what’s new:

A new “Search” panel with the most frequently used resources right up front so you can get to your journals, databases, research guides or other materials quickly

Updated styling based on the UC San Diego campus templates and graphics. This means our site will now work better on screens of any size and conform better to accessibility standards

Some things are not changing – the following sections of our site will still work and look the same:

Library catalogs

Databases and other e-resources provided by outside vendors

Subject and course guides

Digital Collections site

Tip: Many pages will be getting new URLs. If you have specific pages from our site bookmarked or linked in web pages of your own, you’ll want to use the website search function to get their new URLs after the launch. If you have any questions at all about where your favorite page(s) went after June 20th, please contact us.

BrowZine, the current awareness service you can use on the web or mobile device to monitor new articles from your favorite scholarly journals, just got better.

The “Saved Articles” feature in the Android/iOS app has been renamed “My Articles,” and you can now sync those articles between the app and your account on Browzine.com. Imagine you’re scanning articles on your phone and find one you want to read, but you don’t want to read it on your phone. Now you can mark it for My Articles, which syncs up to your BrowZine web account for you to read on your laptop or desktop.

On BrowZine Web, you’ll get options for each article: read full text (of course), export the citation to EndNote/Zotero/Mendeley, and add to My Articles.

On the app, you can still tap the yellow bookshelf icon next to the article title, or open the article and select Save to My Articles. And you will need to update the app to the latest version to see the changes.

You can now create “collections” to organize your articles into groups.

If you already have saved articles, they will migrate into My Articles, under “General Collection.” If your articles don’t appear or you can’t open them, you might need to create a new collection and add your articles to it.

The Library has licensed BrowZine on a trial basis, through June 2018. If you have any feedback or questions about setting up or using it, please contact Teri Vogel (tmvogel@ucsd.edu). We also have a guide with more information.